Lebanon

From the Fine Wine Safari Cellar – Part 2: Chateau Musar 1999 from the Bekaa Valley…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Chateau Musar, owned by the Hochar family, is one of the most iconic international wineries located in Ghazir, Lebanon, 24 kilometres (15 miles) north of the capital Beirut. Like most of Lebanon’s top wineries, Musar’s grapes are all cultivated in the famous Bekaa Valley, an incredibly fertile sunny valley at an elevation of 1,000+ metres (3,300 ft), situated 40 km (25 miles) east of Beirut city bordering Syria.

Being a unique blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Cinsault, Musar has crafted a recipe that combines skeletal structure from the Cabernet, flesh on the bones from the Carignan and elegance and finesse from the Cinsault, always capable of ageing with grace for decades, and even longer in great years like 1999. Knowing that I have a case of the 1999 Underbond in storage, I was thrilled to find a lose bottle in my cellar during a recent rummage around. 

Chateau Musar 1999, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 14% Abv.

Another legendary wine and also a legendary vintage from this Lebanese icon winery, Chateau Musar. Along with the 1991, 1995 and 2010 (from more recent vintages), this 1999 Musar has over performed for the past two decades. Still a deep ruby red colour with only a hint of garnet on the rim, this wine retains an aromatic opulence and mystical power so respected in great Musar vintages. Rich, expressive, detailed and exotic, the nose boasts complex notes of ripe pomegranate, Turkish delight, wild strawberries, red cherry, macerated red plums and Middle Eastern spices with just the most gentle, savoury, bloody, sweet polished mahogany wood spice nuance. The palate is incredibly vibrant and opulent with intense notes of savoury cured meats, macerated red and black berries, cherry liquor and exotic Christmas spices of cinamon and clove – my Persian restauranteur exclaimed after tasting it… “Jhavi”… or ‘strong’ in Persian… “it reminds me of my childhood when we made red wines in Iran high up in the mountains.” Two hours after opening, without decanting, this wine shows additional vibrancy, a savoury red and black fruit intensity and an admirable fine wine composure. A simply stunning expression of Musar that is certainly worth popping the cork and experiencing now if you have a few bottles in your cellar, but definitely no rush. This wine will be incredibly long lived! Drink now to 2045+.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Chateau Musar wines are imported and distributed in the UK by Musar UK and the current release 2018 retails for circa £55-£60 per bottle.

A Vintage Born Out of Adversity – Tasting the Phenomenal Chateau Musar 2015…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

When it comes to adversity, there is little that has not been thrown at the people of Lebanon in the past few years. But as expected, resilience has once again become the byword for the tenacious locals in their struggle to resume normal lives after political turmoil, the Syrian refugee crisis, economic difficulties, the Covid pandemic and of course the disastrous Beirut port explosion on the 4th of August 2020. While all this chaos has been going on, the determined winemakers of the Bekaa Valley have soldiered on with their treasured alchemic art of turning grapes into incredibly fine wines.

After an almost 16 month wait, stocks of the highly anticipated 2015 Chateau Musar finally landed in the UK market at the end of 2021 defying ongoing shipping problems and global container shortages. True to the theme of adversity, the 2015 harvest proved to be one of the most challenging in a generation according to Chateau Musar. The start of the year was promising with January and February 2015 offering up plentiful amounts of rain and snow, followed in March by more snow before the weather gave way to warmer conditions in late March. But the optimism was short lived when in mid-April, exceptionally cold nigh time conditions returned with temperatures dropping to as low as -12 degrees C in one instance, damaging the already opening buds. By early May, the vineyards were filled with hectares of blackened vines suggesting a potentially catastrophic vintage ahead.

But miraculously, secondary green shoots emerged from the vines helped by higher temperatures in June and July. Clearly, yields were going to be greatly reduced for this harvest. The Syrah grapes were the first reds to be harvested on the 1st September with reduced yields of between 75% and 80% from the average while fortunately, the Cabernet Sauvignon seemed to be less affected when harvesting started on the 3rd of September. However during September, a heatwave struck the vineyards and while the Cabernet fruit avoided the worst of the frosts, the subsequent heatwave reduced yields by up to 65%. The Cinsault harvest started on the 8th of September with reduction in yields of between 40% and 70% depending on the vineyard location. The Carignan and Grenache were harvested on the 11th September with both varieties experiencing a reduction of 50% in yields before the final bunches of Mourvedre were harvested in early October. 2015 is certainly a year that will be remembered for its climatic difficulties but also hopefully for the final wine quality that reached the bottle.

Chateau Musar 2015, Bekaa Valley, 14% Abv.

Another seductive vintage of Musar with expressive aromatics of sweet red cherries, plum liquor, cinnamon spice, sweet cedar, cherry tobacco and balsamic reduction. The palate shows wonderful textural precision with polished sleek tannins, stewed cherries, hints of cola, pithy black currant and sweet sappy spice and a suave, super elegant finish that possesses an impressively pure, weightless intensity. This is a seriously classy Musar that has more in common with harmoniously elegant vintages like the 2010 than higher horsepower years like 1995 or 1999. Simply beautiful to drink now but exhibits a vibrant freshness that will keep this wine singing for many years to come. Drink now and over the next 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Ksara Release Their First Single Varietal Merwah White From the Bekaa Valley…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Chateau Ksara’s maiden release Merwah is an attractive expression of this ancient biblical variety that combines Lebanon’s formidable vine growing terroir with top winemaking expertise. Produced from grapes harvested from vines that are over 60 years old grown on the terraced hillside slopes of the tiny North Lebanese village of Douma which is situated at over 1,500 meters in altitude.

Pesticides and herbicides are not used, so the grapes are grown almost organically. The soil ranges from chalk, to clay and chalk, to clay and limestone, but it is always stony. The Merwah grapes were harvested at very low yields in mid-October and vinified with minimal intervention. The yields were 37 hectolitres per hectare and the wine was given some lees ageing but saw no oak treatment.

This white wine is a true rarity with Merwah seldom bottled as a single variety but usually blended with Lebanon’s other indigenous white variety Obaideh or else Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon. Quantities are very limited but it will be worth the effort to track down a bottle to experience this ancient grape variety in the form of wine and not Arak.

Chateau Ksara Merwah 2017, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 12.5 Abv.

Crystalline bright lemon yellow colour, this exotic little white has an aromatic nose of fresh lemon zest, white peach blossoms and dusty dried baking herbs with just a hint of crushed gravel minerality. The palate is medium bodied, relatively taut but deliciously vibrant and fresh. There is textural weight and a sleek, seamless mouthfeel with layers of lemon biscuit, Japanese green tea, lemon bon bons, white peach pastille finishing with a juicy green apple crunch. A wine that is beautifully light and fine boned but that also confidently conveys a focused vinous intensity. Delightfully refreshing, this is definitely one of the summer months. Drink now to 2022+

(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Musar Going Back to Basics with the New Release 2011 Vintage – One of the Latest Harvests on Record…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

New releases of Chateau Musar vintages come along like buses in a quiet rural village on a bank holiday weekend. None for years then two within moments of each other. But Musar lovers won’t be blamed for thinking that the 2010 vintage has somehow disappeared into the vinous twilight zone and vanished before even being drunk!

Of course, if you had read my recent review of the 2010 vintage… link below… you would know that it was not only an incredibly fine, high quality vintage but also a lamentably small production – all the necessary ingredients for uber collectibility.

https://gregsherwoodmw.com/2018/04/30/chateau-musar-2010-a-vinous-collectors-piece-in-the-making/

So the fast forward button was pressed and the 2011 has been released, hopefully not too much ahead of its originally planned schedule. The wine is once again a classic Musar blend of roughly a third each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Cinsault from the Bekaa Valley, from vines with an average age of 40+ years.

The harvest of 2011 posed one of the most challenging experiences in wine-making at Chateau Musar over the last 20 years, as it was one of the most untypical years in Lebanese history. The year began with a cold January but with insufficient rain. February proved similar with March being sunnier but April and May produced the really big surprise with a level of rainfall to match January, February and March combined!

The main result of the rain was very late maturation, with flowering occurring 25 days later than usual and this delay continued over the maturation period and up to the harvesting day. Musar’s first Carignan was harvested on the 22nd September and then on the 23rd it rained for three days from the 23rd until the 25th September with the Carignan and the Cinsault not yet harvested. The Carignan resisted the rain but the Cinsault was more affected.

The harvest was finally completed on the 13th October, which was, with the exception of their 1983 vintage, the latest in the company’s history.

Chateau Musar 2011, Bekaa Valley, 14 Abv.

A classic dark broody Musar nose with expressive notes of earthy, plummy, foresty berry fruits with just a delicate drizzle of balsamic and black cherry reduction. Deep and lush, showing plenty of creamy oak and classic Musar sweet savoury complexity. Equally mouth filling and broad, the palate shows fine oak spice tannins, sweet caramelised plums with toffee brittle complexity. Sleek powerful texture, very fine length, this is a much more archetypal Chateau Musar with a little more youthful rusticity and grippy tannins than the ripe, suave, super polished 2010. Leave this release in your cellar for another year or two if you can and then drink over 20+ years.

(Wind Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Musar 2010 – A Vinous Collector’s Piece in the Making…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

2010 was a year to remember in Lebanese wine-making history. Even from January it was obvious that this year would be lacking in water as snow fell only once on the 17th January (it was the shortest ski season ever!) and rainfall stopped on the 23rd February.

March was so hot that the vines began to blossom in early April and in May and June the vines were so vigorous and green following successful flowering, that Musar thought they would have the biggest harvest ever. However in mid-July things began to change and the temperature rose dramatically. A heat-wave hit Lebanon which lasted for about 23 days with an average daily temperature of 40 °C and the highest ever temperature in the Bekaa Valley was recorded at 48.5° C.

The grapes didn’t mature, they dried, as water disappeared from the grapes causing high sugar concentration. Cinsault and Carignan were less affected by this heat-wave than the Cabernet Sauvignon which suffered the most – dried grapes with high sugar content, high acidity and unfortunately the estate lost approximately 45% of their Cabernet Sauvignon this year.

The Musar winery north of Beirut just off the road to Byblos.

Fermentation began normally but Musar took the decision for the first time to ferment between 26 and 28 ° C to give the natural yeasts the ability to finish fermentation because of the high sugar content but mainly to preserve the fruity aromas that they were worried the wines may lack due to the heat-wave affecting the grape skins, where the esters responsible for aromas exist.

All in all, this extreme prolonged heat-wave resulted in a significant loss of grapes this year and the Chateau Musar Red 2010 will be sold globally exclusively on an allocation basis. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan were blended in 2012 after having spent a year in untoasted French Nevers barrels and this vintage was bottled in the summer of 2013.

Chateau Musar 2010, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 13.5 Abv.

For a wine from a supposedly warm, dry vintage, this beautiful expression shows incredible precision, purity and focus. The 2010 has a compelling nose reminiscent of a youthful Cru Nebbiolo blended with 10 year old Grand Cru Cotes de Nuits Pinot Noir. There are wonderfully complex aromatic notes of cherry kirsch liquor, tar and roses, sweet earthy forest fruits, hints of balsamic, sun dried cherries, frais des Boisses and a subtle complexing note of freshly polished mahogany. The most intriguing aspect of this wine is it’s incredible focus, piercing palate freshness, medium bodied freshly weight allied with incredibly fine harmonious sweet chalky tannins. With the heavenly fruit purity of the finest Musar vintages married to the elegance of a more suave, feminine, seductive vintage, this 2010 is sure to be noted as one of the most lithe, elegant, attractive expressions from the Bekaa in more than a decade. Drink this beauty now or cellar for 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)